Julie M. Schum
Partner and Practice Chair of the Cannabis Law Group
Chicago Office
111 West Monroe Street, Suite 700
Chicago, Illinois 60603
Julie M. Schum is a partner in the Chicago office of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. and serves as the Practice Chair of the Cannabis Law Group for the country. She focuses her practice on workers' compensation defense and cannabis law. In workers' compensation, she represents businesses, self-insureds, and third-party administrators before the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission as well as in the circuit court and appellate court levels. In cannabis law, she works with employers both large and small to update their policies and procedures to best accommodate the ever-changing cannabis laws as well as working with banks and businesses on high-risk accounts and mortgages to ensure the best possible protections considering the constantly shifting cannabis landscape.
Prior to joining QPWB, Ms. Schum was an associate attorney at a regional law firm and managed a variety of complex workers' compensation claims in the Chicagoland area. She commenced her legal career at a Chicago law office as an associate attorney where she assisted senior level attorneys on workers' compensation cases.
Ms. Schum received her Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, Illinois in May 2007, and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois in May 2002, graduating with honors in criminal justice and minors in psychology and history. While in law school, she earned a health law fellowship and received a health law certificate. Ms. Schum has been awarded the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Forensic Evidence in 2006 and the University of Illinois Student Services Award in 2002.
She is licensed to practice law in Illinois and holding several certificates related to cannabis including Cannabis Cultivation, Testing, and Research as well as OCE Master of Cannabis certificate. Ms. Schum lectures nationwide on the topics of workers' compensation and cannabis law. She has spoken for CLM and RIMS Risk world among others. She also provides client training seminars and conducts continuing legal education (CLE) courses on a myriad of topics in both workers' compensation and cannabis law. She was recently featured in Business Insurance magazine as well as being featured in a two-part series of articles regarding cannabis in Property Casualty 360 in June of 2023 and a recent article in September 2023.